St Peter's Church, Fairfield (Entrance Pathway)

The first chapel in Fairfield which was founded in 1260 by the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield on the instigation of William de Gretton, owing to the fact that “the village of Fairfield is so distant from its Parish Church of Hope, in winter time when the rain, snow and other bad weather abound in those parts that they cannot attend Church without peril of their bodies”.^[1]

In 1650, Parliamentary Commissioners proposed “that Fayrefield parochial chapelry of Hope, is fit to be made a parish church”, and “the following hamlets also being members of Hope, shall be included; Pigtor, Cowlow, Baylie Flatt and Lowfoot”.

By 1815 there was a petition to build a new church, and in 1839, the old church was demolished, and the church we see today built, though Fairfield did not acquire full parochial rights from Hope until 1852. Nevertheless it did become a full parish before Buxton, which didn't acquire full parochial status until 1898.

(Information provided by Rosemary Lockie)

Reference
[1] The above is a brief summary of an account of the history of St Peter's by David Owen, formerly available on the Church's website. A “live” version is currently unavailable, but it may still be referenced by courtesy of the “Wayback Machine” (Internet Archive) for St Peter's Church, Fairfield.